A cell model for the detection of local image motion on the magnocellular pathway of the visual cortex.

We propose that five types of cell on the magnocellular pathway of the visual cortex constitute a function hierarchy for detecting local image motion. Lateral geniculate nucleus cells and two simple cell types analyse one-dimensional velocities perpendicular to oriented components within a moving stimulus. Combining these velocities, a group of complex cells along a sine wave fire over the cell array. The amplitude and phase of the wave correspond to the local motion's speed and direction. A motion-detection cell in the middle temporal area then extracts the wave of activated complex cells to detect the motion. Applying Hough and inverse Hough transforms and Reichardt's spatio-temporal correlation to the hierarchy, we modeled these cell types as a series of formulas that represent the synaptic functions of neurons. The modeled cells reflect the response to various stimuli in actual cells, and explain Adelson and Movshon's two-stage hypothesis neurophysiologically. The intersection-of-constraint-lines solution of the hypothesis is equivalent to the inverse Hough transform processed in motion-detection cells. We propose tests for validating this cell model using microelectrodes and optical imaging.